Book Review: "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel

Confession: Once in grade twelve I put off completing (maybe even starting??) a History paper by reading an 800 or so page biography of Florence Nightingale. It was a VERY moving book (that had nothing to do with my assignment) but it caused me a lot of anxiety and trouble due to the fact that it took me weeks (maybe months?) to finally get my paper in. It did not take me long at all to read the biography but the fact that my paper was already late made it harder to even work on it. Sorry Mr. Lindahl! Ha! How I still managed to be the Valedictorian of my graduating class is a mystery (to Calvin) but like I said in my speech, that year it was based on looks. But seriously now folks, my English teacher that same year told us once in class that she used to have a problem with procrastinating but then she read a book about it and stopped. She made it sound so easy! And I really liked her as a teacher. I vowed to follow her lead. So fourteen years later, I have finally followed through on that commitment:)

This is why I love the children's book: "Leo the late Bloomer" by Robert Kraus. Its about a tiger that couldn't do anything right until finally one day he blooms! Once I labeled myself a "late bloomer" I stopped feeling quite so bad about my awkward teenage years:) And awkward years in general. We all have had those years, as my friend Sarah would say, those years before we knew to pluck our eyebrows.

Back to procrastination. Piers Steel is a real gem. He writes with authority and humour. He acknowledges the reading of his book is probably an act of procrastination in and of itself. He explains why procrastinating is the natural human way and what we can do to overcome it. I love him for his hatred of the book "The Secret" (sorry friends who love that book!) and I love how he gets specific with what to do. For example, make Approach Goals, i.e. start early rather than Avoidance Goals i.e. Don't begin late. The book has seriously changed how I house clean, make lunches, get the garbage out on time and renew library books! (No more embarrassingly high late fees!! :) It has also helped me actually write a little more. Writing is one of the greatest things to procrastinate, inspiring all types of cleaning and bouts of de-hoarder-izing one's home. Which are good activities but when you want to write- they get in the way. Anyway, it was, not to be too dramatic, a life-changing read for me. To any fellow procrastinators out there, get the book!

Photo from "Leo the Late Bloomer"